For the cry is gone round, &c.— The prophet contemplating, with the most lively imagination, the motion and consternation of all Moab, as if present to his view, scarcely satisfies himself in painting the scene: he repeats again in this place the proposition, and supplies by a general declaration what he might seem not to have expressed with sufficient perfection before: he therefore declares, that this lamentation of which he speaks shall not be private, and peculiar to one place, or to a few, but common to all; and that the tempest should not break upon this or that part of the country only, but should afflict all Moab, every corner and boundary of it; for this cry, this sorrowful howling, is said to go round, to encompass all the borders and extreme boundaries of Moab, and to take in the whole from Eglaim to Beer-elim, two cities in the extremities of Moab. He adds in the 9th verse some additional reasons for this lamentation; the first of which is, the great slaughter of the people, which the enemy should make in Moab, expressed in these words, The waters of Dimon shall be full of blood, for I will bring more upon, or add accessions to, Dimon; that is to say, the waters of Dimon should be increased by the rivers of the blood of the slain which should flow into them, and so should add accessions, or increase to them. Those waters should increase, and become even a torrent, from the blood of the slain. The expression is strong and elegant. It is uncertain where this river was, which is thought to have had its name from דם dam, blood, and there is an elegance in this allusion. See 2 Kings 3:19; 2 Kings 3:22. The other evil, the completion of all the rest, and the severest cause of their lamentation, is, that God would not even spare a remnant to restore hereafter, and renew this fallen state. God should find a lion upon them that escaped out of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land: by which is commonly understood, that God would not spare any of them, but would pursue them with his judgments to the last extremity, and send upon them, and on their desolate country, lions and wild beasts to destroy entirely all that remained. Yet I am persuaded, says Vitringa, that something farther is here intended, and that Nebuchadnezzar is manifestly pointed out, who, after the Moabites, reduced extremely low by the Assyrians, began to recruit themselves, should give the remnant of the nation to destruction, and complete the judgment which the Assyrian had begun. Compare what Jeremiah says of Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 4:7 and this will appear more probable. Our prophet also himself has used this figure. See ch. Isaiah 5:26-27 and compare Jeremiah 5:6; Jeremiah 48:40. The Chaldee paraphrast certainly so understood it, translating the word which we read lion by king: A king with his army to destroy the Moabites. See Vitringa.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, This prophesy is either the same with that of chap. Isaiah 16:14 and was to be quickly accomplished, within three years, when Salmanezer ravaged the country; or distinct from that, and relative to the final destruction of Moab by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 48 or, as observed in my critical annotations, inclusive of both.
We have here a picture of the most affecting distress.
1. Sudden and terrible would be the stroke: some of their cities surprised in the night, sacked, and demolished; others, in terror at the expectation of the same fate, with tokens of the bitterest anguish upon them, disfigured with baldness, and girt with sackcloth, and every place full of weeping and tears, loud as the heifer bellows, and reaching to the distant cities, whither they fly for shelter from the approaching ruin. Note; (1.) Death often seizes the sinner in the night with terrible surprise. (2.) When we lie down on our beds, our bed may be quickly made our grave by some unexpected stroke: let us therefore be always ready. (3.) It will be too late for those to cry, when God's wrath overtakes them, who before never cried to avert it.
2. All help should fail them: their mighty warriors should faint under their fears, and their life be a burden to them. Or it will bear to be read, His soul shall cry out for himself each bemoaning his wretched case; nor shall their idols afford them relief. Though they go up to their high places to weep, no answer shall be given them, and weeping they shall descend. Note; Creature-confidences, like idol-gods, will utterly fail us in time of trouble.
3. The prophet himself in pity drops a tear over their desolations, though enemies. Such tender and compassionate hearts should ministers possess, and, like their divine Lord, weep over those sinners that will not be warned.
2nd, From one corner to the other of the land, the cry of Moab should be heard; and no wonder, when her desolations were so great.
1. The country should be devoured and wasted by drought, or eat up as forage by these invaders; so that not a blade of grass should remain; and their abundance, with so much care collected and laid up, be carried away to the brook of the willows; either by themselves to hide it, or rather by their enemies to Babylon, so called from its marshy situation. Note; This world's riches are often a short-lived possession, so soon do they make themselves wings and fly away.
2. The waters of Dimon shall be full of blood; the numbers of the slain so great, that her streams should be died thereby: and more, or additions, of trouble be brought upon them; the lions shall glean those who escape from the sword. Note; When God in just vengeance begins with sinners, he will make an end; and while they continue hardened, he will not be weary in smiting them.